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Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I had a last minute lunch here in Austin... the amazing BBQ of the Salt Lick... and when I got home I realized I missed the Hobbit chat at the Weta website with Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro. I signed up and everything, but being the dumbass I am, I totally forgot about it.
Luckily for me, those rascally Weta folks have a complete transcript. I'm just starting to read now, but wanted to throw the link up now rather than after I finished.
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The HOBBIT part of this is more of a confirmation of what was already indicated/suspected than "news", but a piece in Variety offers a brief update on the status of matters del Toro.
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Hey folks, Harry here - It looks like PJ and GDT are pulling a 20 Questions bit - which is how PJ started it all - those many moons ago... Here's what I got in the email:
An Unexpected Party
Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro invite you to a live internet chat about The Hobbit.
Peter and Guillermo would love to answer your questions and hear your comments about our new adventure into Middle-Earth.
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Merrick here...
This won't come too big a surprise, as the possibility/probability was referenced by ScoreKeeper in an interview with Howard Shore that was published quite a while back. However, with THE HOBBIT enduring so much flux, nothing seemed certain for a while.
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Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. Is THE HOBBIT the new Don Quixote? Is it a cursed project? Bob Shaye finally works out his deal with Peter Jackson and then he's hit with another lawsuit, this time it's an even bigger one... from the Tolkien estate... technically it's the Tolkien Trust, a British charity that manages the estate.
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Hey folks, Harry here... In the geek community for quite some time, the rumor has been that Guillermo Del Toro was going to be directing THE HOBBIT. The day that the announcement came that Peter Jackson was playing nice with New Line - and that Weta was going to be handling the fx - and everyone was a happy family again... I was talking to Guillermo about some personal issues (the Lapband operation, Guillermo had one quite a while back, and has been encouraging me to take that step.
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Merrick here...
Word is flying fast & furious: Team Jackson, New Line, and MGM have made nice and are gearing up to launch 2 HOBBIT movies.
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Ahoy, squirts!
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Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.
A lot of this information is not new, but what this week’s ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY cover story actually does well is lay out everything in sequence to show just what’s gone wrong and why.
I definitely have an opinion about what’s going on between Peter Jackson and New Line, but I don’t think that opinion matters. My understanding has always been that until the legal issues are resolved, there won’t be a HOBBIT by Jackson. And there’s no guarantee that New Line will do it with him at all.
But if you want to really understand what’s happened so far, this is the best piece I’ve seen, and I think it’s encouraging when you take it all in at once. In a perfect world, I’d love to see what PJ and company would do with THE HOBBIT, but if it doesn’t happen, I’ll understand. I just think it’s impressive that anyone would take as public a stand on this as Peter did, since this is standard Hollywood practice, this sort of arrogant bullshit accounting where alleged profit partners are treated like garbage. PJ just got really vocal about it, and I think it surprised the hell out of New Line. Looking at how he’s already lined up to do THE LOVELY BONES and TINTIN, I don’t think it’s hurt PJ at all. And honestly, I’d rather see those, see him moving forward.
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Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I saw word trickle in last night that there might be some bridge re-building going on with Peter Jackson and Bob Shaye/New Line. Actually, it sounds more like New Line more than Shaye...
I have a note in with Wingnut, trying to get a statement, but I figured if I waited too much longer then the story would be ancient. And there's already misinformation out there.
The exact quote from Shaye is "Notwithstanding our personal quarrels, I really respect and admire Peter and would love for him to be creatively involved in some way in The Hobbit."
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Merrick here...
Earlier this week, we posted a message from Checkyr. He told us that Peter Weir was being approached to direct THE HOBBIT…more or less concurrently with efforts to bring Sam Raimi aboard.
In that posting, we indicated Checkyr was an untried source, and that his “information” should be taken with a “grain of salt”. It should be noted that (to the best of my knowledge) we haven’t heard back from anyone refuting Checkyr’s assertion…nor have we fully confirmed it. Which means, we should approach the following while sucking on the same grains of salt…
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Merrick here...
This is from an untried source, so I suppose this should be taken with a grain of salt.
But, it’s pretty interesting none the less…and a potentiality I’d never truly considered. Personally, I think this notion makes a surprising amount of sense - although nothing makes as much sense as…say…just working things out with Peter Jackson and getting him the fuck back onto the project! (I believe Jackson is now synonymous with LORD OF THE RINGS/HOBBIT & his absence will make any project feel pale, imitative, or exploitative).
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Hey folks, Harry here - there isn't a lot of info here - but Entertainment Weekly sat down with Sam Raimi, Kirsten Dunst and Sony's Matt Tolmach - and got the beginning comments of what is sure to be an oft inquired about story. That of Raimi leaving the SPIDER-MAN franchise to do THE HOBBIT. As far as I know this is the first time that Raimi has commented upon the rumors - and Kirsten comments on what she'd do if he left SPIDER-MAN. Check out the house of dominos...
From EW.COM
On the eve of what is expected to be the biggest Spider-Man yet, Entertainment Weekly learns that director Sam Raimi is seriously considering directing The Hobbit—a choice that could potentially leave Spidey 4 without a director and, says Kirsten Dunst, a leading lady.
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Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. The dirty fighting is starting between Peter Jackson and New Line. Moviehole.net reported on an interview with Bob Shaye done by Sci-Fi.com, where he rips into Jackson and says he's not welcome at New Line ever again.
He points out what Jackson has been paid so far on Rings... a lot of money... but he doesn't answer why New Line refuses to allow Jackson's representatives into the books. I believe Jackson is suing over his contracted percentage on the FELLOWSHIP DVDs, but from Jackson's letter to the fans about the situation, it sounds like he just wants to make sure he's not being short changed. So, the question still remains... If New Line is sure they've fulfilled their contractual obligation to Jackson and Co, why are they fighting this?
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Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with another opinion on the whole Peter Jackson/New Line/MGM/Hobbit situation. I wouldn't post this by itself if it didn't come from a man with J.R.R. Tolkien's blood running through his veins.
I met Royd Tolkien a few years ago on the set of RETURN OF THE KING and the look on his face was classic. He told me that his grandfather wasn't too keen on letting the rights go to LOTR, but that the entire family was so impressed with Jackson's translation of his great-grandfather's world. He wore a giant smile each time I saw him on the set.
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Hey folks, Harry here - gather together, join hands and pray to Zaentz that this comes to pass!
From IMDB
As Lord of the Rings fans mounted a protest following word that New Line had dropped Peter Jackson from consideration as director of The Hobbit and another Lord of the Rings prequel, producer Saul Zaentz has given assurances that Jackson will indeed direct the two films. A German website, Elbenwald.de, posted an interview with Zaentz, who acquired the rights to the works of the late Rings writer, J.R.R. Tolkien, in 1976 (the Saul Zaentz Company owns Tolkien Enterprises), in which Zaentz says, "It will definitely be shot by Peter Jackson.
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Harry here... Just got home from an evening out and got slapped with this news. WOW. I love New Line. I have a great relationship with many of the folks there at the Studio and honestly... I can't fathom this decision. I suppose it follows the same line of thinking that brought us MASK & DUMB & DUMBER sequels without the original talent, and I fear that in the end we'll see similar results. I can't imagine who they would want to go with or risk a series that already has brought in a Billion dollars each. It just doesn't make any sense. This is pretty much the surest way to fuck up the easiest 2 Billion dollar decision that any studio has ever blown. Unbelievable.
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